Mapping Them

Adriana G. Prat

Interview by L. Valena

March 2, 2022

Would you please start by describing the prompt that you responded to?

When I received the prompt, when I opened it with my phone and I browsed quickly, I thought it said the title was “Triple Drunk!” But no, it’s not. So that was funny. The prompt is a repetition of the same photo three times, probably at different exposures, in black and white. I believe it is the same person, a man. The negative space of the setting of these three photos created some sort of cross in my perception.

And what was your first reaction to that?

When I joined Bait/Switch, I said I could take anything [as a prompt] and then I was a bit disappointed, because it was “only” a black-and-white photo. But you know, I work with color and with texture, so I felt like I could do a lot that’s not there. It gave me room to explore all sorts of things. I am an intuitive artist.

I'm currently working with acrylic mostly, and I'm very passionate about using practices that are more sustainable for the environment. For this work, I worked in cardboard because that's my support of choice. In my studio, I have a lot of cardboard that I gesso. Many of them are from watercolor paper panels that a friend of mine recently gave me, etc. I thought I was going to work on a small painting, given the amount of time I had to deliver my response, but because it was a triad of photos, I decided I would do a triptych. And I wanted to include some elements from the prompt. I was trying to visually create the same response, the same composition I was seeing in the three photos. I was working very quickly with a foam brush that I reuse. I decided that I was going to dunk it in water only three times.

You did a Triple Dunk?! [both laugh]

I’m good at following instructions, or what I feel are instructions. I'm a scientist, by the way, academically. I am originally a scientist and then an artist. I thought the triple dunk was a good way to also follow the few elements or little information I had from the prompt. But what else did I do? Oh, I gravitated toward a palette that I usually like, violet and alizarin crimson. I thought that those colors felt very organic, which was similar to the prompt, being composed of repetitions of the nude/human figure and evocative of the mood the prompt gave me.

And what was the mood that the prompt gave you? Can you put it into words?

It was, in a way, somber. It was subtle. The images were very fuzzy and had a certain texture that could have come from the photo itself or the scan. It felt intriguing and somber and daring, but in a subtle way.

Anyway, this palette is one that I tend to use. I also wanted to go with a palette that was familiar. Then, working very quickly while the acrylic was still wet, I went in with water-soluble crayons and I started adding the traces. I repeated the same elements that were related in my mind to people, to the pose, to whatever I was seeing. In the first panel, we have two sections that are placed in the the same way that the photos were placed, and the last one also has the other nude/guy at the bottom. In the middle panel, I introduced this shape to evoke that cross that I perceive in the negative space in the prompt. So I worked more in these areas than the other one, but for composition purposes in the final product I needed to incorporate other elements that are similar to my reflection on the model.

Then, once the acrylic and the water soluble crayons painting was dry, I went to my second step of my typical painting process, which is usually more controlled in which I use acrylic or ink pens to add more textures. Sometimes there are topographies there, but then I go with more detail with smaller marks. And then I added the dots, which follow shapes. I used probably three or four colors. The yellow follows the lines of the person’s arm and leg. With the white, I introduced a shape that evokes the head. And at the very end, I added some gold for what could be each of the eyes of the prompt sitters, or something happening in their head. But again, all this is very abstract. And that's really it. I tried to make it work from a compositional aspect in the triptych. I have to say I usually don't work anymore from a visual reference, so this was interesting.

How did you feel about that? Was that difficult?

You know, when I was learning the basics of drawing and painting, I used to work from a nude model. I moved very quickly into the crevices. With some areas of the body, or areas of anything, even with still lifes, I always felt attracted to crevices. But I haven't done that in a long while.

Right now, I'm a non representational artist. So if anything, my work currently look like topographies (cells of organisms, maps) based on what I'm thinking or feeling but not based on any external, perceptual reference.. I guess working from the prompt was very loose. it felt good in my hand. I tried not to judge it very much. “Ooh, does this resemble anything?” No, because I wasn't trying to. In my mind, it was more just a reference to the subject. But I also had fun! When you sent the prompt, you told me to have fun. And I had fun.

You know, everybody approaches this a different way. A lot of people will not necessarily bring in visual elements; they'll just react to how they feel. But I think it's really cool that you brought this echo in. It's really beautiful.

Thank you. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to echo the composition, but also acknowledge the feeling that I felt in the beginning. But I didn't want to paint something somber. Well, the prompt wasn’t somber. It was mysterious and intriguing. I didn't know exactly what was happening in there, so I didn't dig into that. I decided to respond compositionally because that was the thing that struck me the most.

That's cool. And the fact that you dunked your foam brush three times is amazing. There's almost a ritualistic aspect to that. Is that sort of performative element something that comes into your work in general?

Interesting! No, not like that. Normally, there is something in the way my painting evolves that reminds me of a certain, I don’t know, ecosystem that is at risk. And then that dictates the title or even the statement I’m making with the painting. Here, it was different. I was responding to something, thinking This is what I’ll do, and I wanted to be specific about that. Yeah, that’s interesting. I was trying to honor whatever the prompt was saying or not saying. But because it's visually so minimalistic, I took the title and just didn't question it. Well, maybe I questioned it afterward. What was he or she trying to say? Triple dunk of what? Was that the number of times they put the photos in the developing solution or whatever? I kind of wonder, but I didn’t think too much about it. Yeah, like a ritual. Thank you for noticing that.

How else does this piece relate to the rest of your work?

I guess it probably relates more visually than anything. It’s not exactly the same, but it could be a good sibling of the work that I tend to do, like that work I mentioned, “Ecosystem At Risk: Coral.” They are coming from the same mother. Not in concept, obviously, but in certain aspects, the way my gestures are, it’s embedded. It’s how I gravitate to do things, especially with the mark making, although this is in contrast to my work related to the climate crisis. I'm thinking about maps. I'm thinking about metabolic pathways in cells, because as a scientist, that's also on my mind. But here, I was really paying more attention to what the prompt was telling me in terms of the pose of the person.

I have used self-imposed numerical prompts a couple of times: painting an homage mixed media to honor the thousands of lives killed by covid, in which I counted every mark to have 2,000 of them. I have performed another painting to represent the number of MS episodes I had in my life.

Is there anything else you wanted to talk about related to this that we haven’t covered yet?

You know, my daughter did this long time ago.

Oh really? Who’s your daughter?

Miranda Viskatis. I think she was in the first print issue.

She was!

My friend Carol Moses kept telling me to do this, and I kept saying, “I'm too busy! I'm too busy!” Because really, I'm too busy. But it sounded fun. And it's very solitary to be in the studio and then sometimes we're too much in our own head. It's nice to be stimulated by something else. And I really like to work against the clock. This is an added element of not thinking too much about what we're doing, being more spontaneous. It was great.

Do you have any advice for someone else doing this for the first time?

Have fun! Don’t think too much! That's what I did, I didn't think too much. I know it sounds like I did think a couple of things, but not for too long. So let loose, be flexible. I kind of wish I had used other materials or done some things differently, but it's okay. Sometimes we have to reference something familiar to come out with something that we haven't done.

Call Number: M48VA | M50VA.praMa

Adriana G. Prat is an academically-trained scientist turned non-representational artist on a quest to inspire awareness and change for the climate crisis, through her work and, via her curatorial activities, the work of other artists. In search of more sustainable art practices, she works on alternative painting supports such as corrugated cardboard and repurposed canvases. Adriana has exhibited at open studios, galleries, alternative spaces, and museums, in Argentina, and the US, mostly in the greater Boston area, and, more recently, in galleries in Reykjavík, Iceland, and London, UK; but she is always thrilled to welcome visitors to a shared studio in the Boston Art & Design District, SoWa (450 Harrison Avenue, studio # 213).